The goal of most law firms is to make a profit by Growing, Protecting and Sustaining clients (G-P-S). The truth is … that most law firms do a poor job of marketing, managing clients and growing business development. So why do you need a legal CRM system? Because the problem is… you don’t know which clients you will lose, how many you have called on, or what the rest of your firm is doing that will affect your success or failure. Just knowing how many calls to clients or prospective clients have been made is often done by asking them! For years, law firms relied on lawyers to maintain good relationships with clients. They kept their own client records, followed up on new opportunities and grew the client base and service reputation. But when lawyers change firms, or the partners don’t know what the lawyers have promised (and vice-versa), this gets many firms in trouble.

1. Client Relationships
Why All Law Firms Need Client
Relationship Management (CRM)
White Paper
Date: September 2011

2. Acknowledgements
Prepared for the USA Law Firm Webinar, this document was developed with support from
seminar hosts and in direct collaboration with the following:
xRM4Legal.com Contributors
Rocky Sharma, Senior CRM/xRM Consultant
Feedback
To send comments or suggestions about this document, please click the following link:
http://xRM4Legal.com/content/contacts
Powered by Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, xRM4Legal is more than just marketing and Client Relationship
Management (CRM). As a new and innovative marketing and business development solution for law firms
and other professional services organizations, xRM4Legal offers the most complete set of solutions for
marketing, business development and client care. Our comprehensive platform includes Web, E-mail
communications, relationship and contact management, social CRM, analytics and SharePoint solutions.
xRM4Legal is backed by a national and international team of legal industry specialists providing design,
consulting, technology, implementation, hosting, training and ongoing support services.
www.xRM4Legal.com
Legal Notice
This document is provided “as-is”. Information and views expressed in this document, including URL and
other Internet Web site references, may change without notice.
Some examples depicted herein are provided for illustration only.
This document does not provide you with any legal rights to any intellectual property in any product. You
may copy and use this document for your internal, reference purposes.
© 2011 Asia Pacific Dynamics Corporation. All rights reserved.
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3. Table of Contents
Preface...................................................................................................................4
About the Author ....................................................................................... 4
Grow, Protect, Sustain .............................................................................................6
Determining Your CRM Needs ....................................................................................7
Why Should CRM Be a Priority? .................................................................................8
Making CRM Work in Your Firm..................................................................................9
Searching for clients, exploring relationships ................................................. 9
Creating contact records, connections and lists ............................................ 11
Reviewing activities, creating and sharing opportunities ................................ 16
Creating a targeted mailing/event list ......................................................... 19
Software Might Not Help ......................................................................................... 22
Presenting the business benefits ................................................................ 22
Calculating ROI ..................................................................................................... 24
Getting Started ..................................................................................................... 25
How We Can Help .................................................................................................. 26
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4. Preface
About the Author
David Blumentals has 20 years‟ experience in IT and Professional Services.
With a background in economics, finance and insurance David moved into
marketing and business development in 1989.
Since 1997, David has focused on the successful delivery of Client
Relationship Management (CRM) systems, often integrating with Practice,
Financial and Document Management Systems.
After working with Epicor‟s Clientele CRM in the late 1990‟s and developing finance and CRM
software systems in the early 2000‟s David started working with Microsoft CRM 1.2 in 2004
and Microsoft Dynamics AX in 2007. David continues to work today with Microsoft Dynamics
CRM 2011 in both on-premise and hosted, cloud computing deployments.
David has held several Director level positions with leading Australian IT groups. A major
project was development of the BankNET financial management system and 2003 partnership
with the Australian Taxation Office on their Electronic Commerce Initiative to test the process
of electronic lodgement of the Business Activity Statement from a „Web environment‟.
In May 2008 founded Client Profiles Asia Pacific, an offshoot of Client Profiles Inc, based in
Atlanta Georgia. As a Microsoft ISV Partner of the Year and Professional Services Partner of
the Year in 2009 and 2010, Client Profiles established an impressive client base across
Australia-New Zealand including six of the top thirty law firms.
More recently, David has established Asia Pacific Dynamics Corporation as a support vehicle
for both clients and Client Profiles implementation partners globally. He is also a director of
VARCentral, a leading supplier of hosted, eCommerce software solutions to IT Resellers across
Australia and New Zealand, www.VARCentral.com.au
David can be contacted at DBlumentals@xRM4Legal.com or +61 409 245 354.
Sydney – Sydney Wharf 9, 56 Pirrama Road, Pyrmont NSW 2009 Australia
London – 40 Bank Street, Canary Wharf, London E14 5NR UK
New York – 1330 Avenue of the Americas, New York City NY10019 USA
For North America please call: +1 (212) 653 0379
For Asia Pacific please call: +61 2 9571 4853
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WHY ALL LAW FIRMS NEED CRM SEPTEMBER 2011

5. “CRM turns frogs into princes.”
Anonymous
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6. Grow, Protect, Sustain
We work with a lot of law firms around the world as they consider the implementation of CRM
solutions, and many of them don‟t have a firm grip on what CRM is, why they need it and what
results it can bring to them. They aren‟t sure what they should spend on a CRM solution and
they ask, "How do I justify this system?“
Many firms have also put their CRM projects on hold as a result of other IT projects, the
economy, or because they think what they have now is OK. What priority should you give to
CRM? Hopefully we can help with what you need to know and if there is a fit in your firm.
The goal of most law firms is to make a profit by Growing, Protecting and Sustaining clients
(G-P-S). The truth is … that most law firms do a poor job of marketing, managing clients and
growing business development.
So why do you need a legal CRM system? Because the problem is… you don‟t know which
clients you will lose, how many you have called on, or what the rest of your firm is doing that
will affect your success or failure. Just knowing how many calls to clients or prospective clients
have been made is often done by asking them!
For years, law firms relied on lawyers to maintain good relationships with clients. They kept
their own client records, followed up on new opportunities and grew the client base and
service reputation. But when lawyers change firms, or the partners don‟t know what the
lawyers have promised (and vice-versa), this gets many firms in trouble.
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WHY ALL LAW FIRMS NEED CRM SEPTEMBER 2011

7. Determining Your CRM Needs
To work out a firm‟s CRM requirements a few simple questions can be asked:
How many new client prospect telephone calls do you make each day?
Does everyone who communicates with a client know what other practice groups said to
them or did for them?
Is all client information kept in one place for easy reference?
Do you have several databases of information that you need to access for a 360 degree
client view?
Are you able to manage the top 20% of clients that give you 80% of your revenue and
90% of your profit?
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8. Why Should CRM Be a Priority?
The simple answer here is because it can have such a profound effect on your firm! It greatly
affects staff satisfaction and turnover, the ability to target and close new business, the
management of client interactions and profitability, and so on. How much do you think these
few functions alone can affect your law firm?
Sometimes firms lose deals because one hand doesn‟t know what the other was doing. How
much would actions like this affect your law firm? How many times does this happen at your
firm? How do you know? And how do you know how many calls your lawyers make to clients?
Or… how much time do the lawyers spend with that "one problem client?" And how could it be
fixed?
Answers to these questions are what justify the need for CRM software! When firms start to
probe, they find that many things are going wrong and being covered up and they‟re costing
the firm a bundle! And don‟t say that your firm has everything working perfectly, because this
happens at every law firm! Do an anonymous survey to the "worker bees" and you will find
out.
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9. Making CRM Work in Your Firm
Searching for clients, exploring relationships
Scenario: You are attending an industry conference or meeting and would like to see what
information the firm has on some of the companies or contacts that are attending, their
positions and if known to anyone else at the firm.
Purpose: This scenario aims to demonstrate how to search for contacts, explore existing
relationships and profiles to build up information ahead of meeting a client or prospective
client.
Steps: Type in the client name “Microsoft”. This will display the following list of head office
and subsidiary records:
Clicking on Microsoft Corporation will display the following client record:
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10. From here we can review information that is tracked and maintained internally like Client
Number, Business Type, Client Manager/s and so on. We can also review information that is
tracked and maintained externally to the firm – like that aggregated from relevant executive
and business networks.
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11. Other details about the client organization can also be recorded such as Industry and
Revenue:
We can obtain a quick one page / “taxi pack” report by clicking File and Print Preview.
Creating contact records, connections and lists
Scenario: Having attended a conference or networking event you have collected two business
cards that you would like to add to the firm CRM system. You know there is also a seminar the
firm is hosting next month that you think might be appropriate to invite them to.
Purpose: This scenario aims to establish how to check the database to see if the contact is
already known to the firm, add new contacts from business cards, add you as a known contact
and add the contacts to a firm event list.
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12. Steps: Clicking on the associated Contacts list displays those contacts currently known to the
firm who work at Microsoft Corporation:
Clicking on the link to Steve Ballmer will display the following contact record:
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13. You will notice additional navigation pane options for Education, Employment History,
Expenses and Languages. These are examples of additional entities that can be added to
xRM4Legal for managing and integrating HR and Experience Databases – for Expertise, Matter
Level Experience, Education, Bar Memberships, Accreditations and Other HR related
information.
To create a connection with this contact record click on Connections in the navigation pane.
This will display those people in the firm already connected. Some connections are
automatically created such as when a Client Manager is assigned or when a Business
Developer is working on an Opportunity – also when professional staff are recorded on a
Matter. These tend to be the critical “Who Knows” relationships.
Connection records are used in the Outlook synchronization rules to keep CRM records up-to-
date and current between various users that have an interest in that client contact.
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14. To create a connection just click the Connect button. We can select the role and enter a
description.
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15. Clicking on Marketing Lists displays those lists currently associated with Steve:
To add Steve to another list click the Add Existing Marketing List button and select the list:
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16. A full Audit History of changes to the Contact is recorded:
Reviewing activities, creating and sharing opportunities
Scenario: After bumping into an old client you found out that good opportunities are
emerging in new areas of their business as a result of the recent changes in their General
Counsel.
Purpose: This scenario aims to establish how to record activities so we can share
opportunities and general activity information on our firm contacts with colleagues as well as
aid cross-sell opportunities to others and set reminders so you and your assistant can manage
meetings and action points generally.
Steps: Clicking on Activities displays those open appointments, letters, phone calls and event
responses currently recorded:
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17. Clicking the Add New Activity button allows us to record the details of the activity:
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18. From the Activity we can also create a new Opportunity record by clicking the Convert Activity
to Opportunity:
Client and potential new matter details can be recorded together with revenue forecast,
selection criteria/processes, deal and pitch information. Activities, Connections and
Documents can be associated with each Opportunity record.
You can share Opportunity details with colleagues by clicking the E-mail a Link button.
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19. Creating a targeted mailing/event list
Scenario: You have written a report with relevance to senior legal counsel at financial
institutions and want to send it to these clients.
Purpose: This scenario aims to establish how to create a targeted mailing/event list through
filtering contacts and assigning contacts.
Steps: Clicking on Marketing Lists displays those marketing/mailing lists currently recorded:
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20. To create a new Marketing List, click the New button and enter details as below – note that we
can specify either Static or Dynamic list:
After saving the record, we can filter and assign Marketing List Members. In this case we will
select only Contacts with a Banking & Finance subscription set to “Subscribed by Client”:
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21. Clicking the Find button displays the contact records that match the criteria.
With dynamic marketing lists you can rest assured that your special reports will reach the right
set of client contacts.
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22. Software Might Not Help
A health warning!
While some law firms are becoming more tech-savvy about marketing, others do struggle.
As a software system designed to promote business development cross-selling in law firms we
are asking lawyers to download their contacts into it so that other firm practice areas can take
advantage of them as well. The problem is that many of the lawyers don't want to divulge
contacts.
"It's the fear of sharing,"
says one law firm business development manager.
"Like a journalist having to reveal their sources to another journalist. For lawyers [a reluctance
to share client contacts is] fundamentally the most difficult thing for the law firm to
overcome."
"It's a fight to get [lawyers] to download into the CRM program,"
adds the chief knowledge officer at another firm.
"The software has got to be very easy to use," they say. "They've got to see a ton of value in
it without a lot of risk.”
Another problem is matching the right technology to a particular firm. As one chief marketing
officer puts it:
“It’s like shooting squirrels with a cannon.”
Some firms make the mistake of going too “heavy” with CRM and spending way too much
money and time.
“It is often more basic information that's important rather than knowing everything about a
given client.”
Presenting the business benefits
1. Centralized and reliable information/knowledge base (deal flow, sales pipelines etc.) for
reporting ROI on marketing/business development investments.
2. Improved communications (clients, prospects, affiliates/referrers/industry marketing
lists) – “Name and Shame”, “Walk on Water” reporting.
3. Better collaboration across staff/teams/practice groups.
4. Stronger relationships - clients/staff/associates/partners.
5. Greater efficiencies - staff can do more with the time they have.
6. Eliminate processing fall throughs using triggered alerts.
7. Full, complete audit trail of marketing, business development, client care activity.
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23. 8. Enhanced client satisfaction through better ownership, improved service
levels/escalation and follow through.
9. Better business analysis, automated trend reporting to make informed decisions using
dashboards/KPI reports.
10. Single view into marketing/financial/client management.
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24. Calculating ROI
For years law firms have sought to justify a CRM investment based on ROI. From our
perspective, it is important to base metrics on tangible, measurable goals. High level metrics
can include:
 Enhanced contact management and relationship intelligence
 Improved marketing and mailing list management
 Data quality
Knowing who your top clients are is critical but also tracking the various touch points is
important.
Client team support and cross selling is a highly quantifiable and important aspect when
calculating ROI. Some integration with practice management will help calculate the value of
new matters generated from marketing events, newsletter subscriptions, opportunity and
pitch management.
Apart from these are many intangible benefits such as:
 Increased client satisfaction and stronger brand equity
 Increased partner satisfaction
 Superior market intelligence
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25. Getting Started
It is fairly easy to see where the benefits of CRM exist in most law firms. If you are close to
the processes that turn a prospect into a client, and guarantee his or her satisfaction, you
know what would help your law firm be more successful.
The next step is to take action to document, justify and convince yourself that the investment
will help guarantee your firm‟s long term success.
Our recommended approach to most firms is to start small. A small “private cloud” hosted
deployment can start from $99 per user per month. Some basic tailoring of the system can be
done in a few hours with user training conducted over a few days. Data migration can often
be performed by users cleaning their Outlook Contact lists and then tracking those in CRM.
For firms that require an on-premise implementation licences start at just a few hundred
dollars per user.
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26. How We Can Help
What we do is help law firms and their staff become more effective business developers – to
increase client billings with less effort.
What we believe in is that it is no longer just enough to be good at what you do. You must
also be good at winning new clients and have systems in place to retain them.
We can help coach people to become systematic, organized, disciplined, innovative and
tenacious in their business development activities.
Why use us? Track record – We are more focused on change, not just education.
What are we looking for? Firms that share our beliefs and want to create a consistent source
of new clients and secure revenue streams where they are in control and are prepared to
invest to get it.
For more information:
David Blumentals
Director, CRM/xRM Strategy
www.xRM4Legal.com
DBlumentals@xRM4Legal.com
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